Even though online shopping is still in its early stage here in the Philippines, this trend is becoming more popular especially for the young people. Long ago when Filipinos were browsing online to buy stuff they had to go through the hassle of paying with their credit cards and delayed shipment from abroad. In those days local online stores were very few, some required you to have a credit card or a Paypal account to purchase items, and not all Filipino shoppers have those. It was a burden to buy products online. Around 2009 to the present, more local online stores were starting to pop-up and eventually accepted in the country.
AyosDito.ph and Sulit.ph were well-known as one of the early online classified-ads sites for buying and selling stuff in the Philippines. Multiply.com a now defunct social networking site, is where a lot of Filipinos started selling, the site has shut down its operations in 2013. It's common now for people to buy things on social networking sites since they're active in the Internet. As technology evolves, shopping habits of Filipinos goes too.
So here are the Top 5 Online Stores in the Philippines:
1. Zalora - This online store features a very wide selection of clothes, shoes, bags and accessories for both men and women. They also have a very extensive lineup of brands that are available for customers. Zalora has their own brand of clothes that they also sell, and grooming products are also available from this online fashion hub. Cash-On-Delivery is a popular payment option for this site, monthly sales and they give out online discount vouchers as soon as you sign up. They have regional hubs that improve shipping time of their products.
2. Lazada - Backed by the same founders from Zalora, Rocket Internet operates Lazada group in Southeast Asia. This site is aims to be the Amazon.com of the region. Catering almost everything from fashion items to kitchenware, Lazada is one of the biggest online stores in the Philippines. They also offer Cash-On-Delivery, but their advantage is the very wide range of products they carry. You can get almost everything you need from electronics to household items.
3. Kimstore.com - For the tech savvies who want to have the latest smartphones and gadgets, this is the site for you. With the rise of social media and smartphones, Kimstore has been part of this trend and they are popular among the gadget conscious Filipinos. Well trusted by their customers, the site is known for having the best price among online gadget stores.
4. OLX.ph - This site acquired Sulit.ph and AyosDito.ph, merged to be one of the biggest online classified ads for buying and selling. Since lots of Filipinos don't have the budget to setup online stores they turn to OLX.ph to sell their wares. The variety of things sold here is very wide too and you can filter them by area so you can see if there are sellers in your area.
5. Facebook and Instagram Online shops - Since we are in the era social media a lot of online shops have been established on Facebook and Instagram. From t-shirts to cakes, you can purchase a lot of items via social media. Various groups and pages in Facebook are dedicated only to online sellers and buyers. A lot of online sellers have been successful in their business because of social media. They reach more potential customers and offer less cost in terms of operating through social media.
The advent of online shopping is buzzing in the Philippines and it continues to grow. As shoppers choose to follow this trend, we can only forecast that more stores and establishment will be connected online and cultivate to get ahead of the competition. We continue to see and wait for more benefits for the consumers and the sellers. Maybe one day we can buy anything from the internet.
